
Bernal breaks collarbone in Clasica Jaen crash
Former Tour de France winner Egan Bernal has broken his collarbone during the closing stages of a race in Spain.Ineos Grenadiers said their 28-year-old rider fractured his clavicle in a crash while competing in the Clasica Jaen-Paraiso Interior, which was won by Poland's Michal Kwiatkowski."I was feeling really strong and obviously I'm sad to have crashed, but at the same time the way I felt during the race gave me a lot of confidence and motivation to keep working hard - the season [ahead] is very long," Bernal said after being released from hospital."I've felt very good in the three races that I have done, so I just have to keep working and I hope to be back soon."The crash comes 11 days after Bernal won the national individual time-trial championships in his native Colombia, his first event win since a life-threatening crash three years ago.Bernal, who won Le Tour in 2019, was left fighting for this life following a training crash on a time-trial bike near Colombia's capital Bogota in January 2022. He needed spinal surgery and other procedures after he sustained back, leg, knee and chest injuries.Ineos Grenadiers have not put a timeframe on Bernal's return.

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The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Intrepid Geoff Thomas geared up for another crack at Tour de France route
When Geoff Thomas was forced to abandon his seventh attempt to complete Tour 21 at the age of 58 after an unforgiving day on the cobblestones, the former Crystal Palace captain thought his days in the saddle were over. 'My bike sort of disintegrated underneath me,' remembers Thomas. 'That's when the issues with my knees started so I'd not really been on the bike since then.' But, two years on and having celebrated his 60th birthday earlier this year, he will join the group of amateur riders in tackling the entire Tour de France route a week before the pros, a ride of nearly 3,500km to raise money for Cure Leukaemia. 'Before Christmas, it seemed a long shot because after so many years of playing football, I've got grade four arthritis in both my knees,' Thomas says. 'They said I was probably not far away from needing to have knee replacements. But I didn't really want to do that.' That was when Mark Gillett stepped in. The Premier League's chief medical officer took part in Tour 21 in 2022 when Thomas had to give up because of the chronic pain he was in. Gillett recommended a hydrogel injection called Arthrosamid, which was first developed for treating horses and is now being used for those suffering with osteoarthritis in the knee. 'You put the injection into the joint, and over three to six months, it gets incorporated into the joint lining and forms a physical barrier,' he says. 'So it's like a gel barrier, so that, whereas in arthritis the natural lining of the joint gets eroded and you get really sensitive nerve endings and bone on bone, you get that barrier between the two, so you're not feeling so much pain.' The results have been spectacular for Thomas, who jokes that 'it feels like polyfilla at times', adding: 'I could feel the knee not going through the same pain as it was when I was trying to get back on the bike. A couple of months later, I'm getting out there and doing 135-mile rides again. It's allowing me to have that dream of doing the Tour again.' Thomas, who won nine caps for England, knows all about overcoming the odds. He was given three months to live when he was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia in 2003, a year after retiring from playing. But, after receiving a stem cell transplant from his sister Kay and undergoing treatment from Prof Charlie Craddock, he entered remission in January 2005. The life-saving treatment motivated him to embark on his first Tour 21 a few months later to raise money for continuing research into the disease, with Thomas estimating that each edition has helped to raise more than £1m for Cure Leukaemia, which has also been adopted as the Tour de France's official charity partner. 'What the charity's done from when I was diagnosed in 2003 … the chances of any clinical trials going on in the world of blood cancer was minimal,' he says. 'It was Charlie who really had this vision of building an infrastructure that would accelerate trials through the system. That's up and running now and people are surviving in bigger numbers.' Thomas interrupted his training to see Palace finally lift their first major trophy by beating Manchester City – the club he supported as a child – at Wembley in the FA Cup final. It was 35 years after he had led them to their first final, before Palace finished third in the old First Division the following season. They were denied a place in Europe as English clubs were being phased back into European competition after being banned in the mid-1980s, and Thomas is hoping that the lure of a Europa League campaign under Oliver Glasner can persuade some of their best players such as Marc Guéhi and Eberechi Eze to stay in south London. 'Hopefully times are changing and Palace will be able to build on their success,' he says. But it is the prospect of completing this year's gruelling route – which will feature five mountain finishes including the famous Hautacam, Ventoux and the Col de la Loze summits – that will occupy his mind over the next few weeks. Gillett has full confidence that Thomas can overcome his knee issues and make it to the finish line on the Champs Élysées in mid-July. 'I'm a very optimistic guy, that's part of my job,' he says. 'But probably two or three months ago, I was thinking, 'I'm not sure he can do this'. But he's got a really good chance. He's done incredibly well.' For Thomas, finally completing the Tour for a seventh time would be a fitting way to round off his cycling career. 'In some ways, I wish I had finished in 2021 because it was fantastic riding into Paris knowing that we had raised so much money. But I knew I had to do it again and now I want to finish on a high to help celebrate Cure Leukaemia and what they are going to be doing over the next five to 10 years.' Support Geoff and the Tour 21 team in changing the future of treatment for blood cancer patients across the globe by donating to their Just Giving page.


Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Man Utd star banned for 30 years and six other staggering sports suspensions
A number of the world's leading athletes throughout history have found themselves suspended from their respective sports - including a Manchester United player who was initially banned for life A Manchester United star was once banned for life for match fixing. After plying his trade with Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest, Enoch West made his way to the Red Devils in 1910. A prolific centre-forward, he racked up 72 goals in 166 appearances for United - but his heroic stint was marred with controversy after just five years. That's because in 1915, West and four of his team-mates, as well as three Liverpool players, were banned for life after being convicted of match-fixing. As many of those who received suspensions went off to fight for their country during the First World War, they saw them rescinded upon returning. However, West refused to adhere to the stipulation, and as a result, his ban stayed in place for 30 years before it was eventually lifted in 1945. The longest suspension in Football Association history, West never played professionally ever again, given he was 59 when his ban expired. And he is just one of a number of athletes who have been banned for one reason or another throughout their respective careers... Lou Vincent Lou Vincent was handed a lifetime ban from playing cricket at any level, as well as entering any cricket ground or working in a professional coaching capacity in July 2014, after admitting to match-fixing offences. The New Zealand batter released an open letter which saw him admit to his "dark secret" which "shamed" not only himself, but also his country and the sport. After his suspension commenced, Vincent became a builder in Raglan. However, following a successful appeal in December 2023, his lifetime ban from domestic cricket was lifted, which allowed him to return to play and coach outside of the international game. Lance Armstrong One of the most famous cases of doping in sporting history, Lance Armstrong was handed a lifetime ban by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in 2012. As a result, the American - who won the Tour de France seven years in a row between 1999 and 2005 after recovering from testicular cancer - saw all of his major accomplishments on the roads and tracks of the world scrubbed from history. Ben Johnson While Ben Johnson's rise to superstardom was unprecedented to say the least - breaking the 100-metre and 60-metre world records and winning a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul - his downfall was equally as shocking. The Canadian sprinter tested positive for Stanozolol after the Olympics, while he admitted to having used steroids in the past. As a result, Johnson was later banned for two years and stripped of his Olympic medal for doping offences. Despite a brief comeback in 1991, he was once again found guilty of doping just two years later, and was banned for life by World Athletics. Hansie Cronje One of the country's most idolised stars, South African Test Cricket captain Hansie Cronje was handed a lifetime ban from the sport in 2000. Cronje, alongside Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom, was caught up in allegations of match-fixing, with the King Commission banning him from any involvement in cricket for life as a result. Despite challenging his ban the following year, his application was dismissed and he remained forbidden from competing in the sport. Liang Wenbo & Li Hang Liang Wenbo and Li Hang were among the snooker stars caught out in a widespread match-fixing ring in China, which rocked the sport in 2023. While eight others were suspended during the investigation, including 2025 World Snooker Champion Zhao Xintong, Liang and Li were deemed to have fixed matches, to have persuaded and encouraged others to fix matches, and to have bet on matches themselves. As a result, they each received lifetime bans. Zhao, meanwhile, was given a ban of one year and eight months, reduced from two-and-a-half years for early admissions of wrongdoing and his guilty plea. While the 28-year-old never rigged matches himself, he did accept charges of being a party to another player fixing two matches and betting on games himself.


Reuters
3 days ago
- Reuters
Britain's Wiggins says he owes recovery from addiction to Armstrong's support
June 6 (Reuters) - Five-time Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins said that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has played a key role in his recovery from cocaine addiction, saying he feels "indebted" to the American. Last month former Tour de France winner Wiggins said he became addicted to cocaine after his retirement from the sport in 2016 and was "lucky" after getting sober a year ago. The 45-year-old described Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, as a "great strength and inspiration" after receiving his support since ending his career. "Lance has been very, very good to me. That's not something everyone wants to hear because people only like to hear the bad stuff," Wiggins said in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live on Friday. "It's on a human level. You can only take someone how they treat you. "Lance has been a source of inspiration to me and a constant source of help towards me and is one of the main factors why I'm in this position I am today mentally and physically, so, I'm indebted to him for that." Wiggins became the first Briton to win the Tour de France in 2012 and collected a then-British record eight Olympic medals, including gold in the time trial at the 2012 London Games. He is now collaborating on Armstrong's podcast The Move, where they will be covering this summer's Tour de France, and said their relationship has been grounded in mutual understanding beyond cycling. In December last year, Wiggins said Armstrong had offered to fund his therapy for mental health issues.